Last night, a Galician search and rescue company, Helimer 401, medecaved an ill passenger from the P&O Ventura cruise ship, after flying from its base in La Coruña, in North West Spain. Galicia is an autonomous community in Spain’s northwest, on the Atlantic coastline.

In the late evening of March 10, 2018, in the middle of a storm, the P&O Ventura requested the medical evacuation of a sick passenger. At the time, the cruise ship was more than 500 kilometers from the Spanish search and rescue (SAR) zone. The ship was reportedly requested to divert to a meeting point at the SAR limit. The Helimer 401 helicopter crew flew approximately 100 miles, with winds of more than 100 km, at night in the storm, to the rendezous point and hoisted the patient. The rescue helicopter then flew to the A Coruña airport in Galicia, where an ambulance took the passenger to the hospital.

The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced two passengers on separate occasions from a Carnival cruise ship on Tuesday, January 30, 2018 according to a Coast Guard website.

The first medevac from the Carnival Pride ship involved a 46 year-old passenger who the shipboard medical team suspected had suffered a stroke on Monday night. Bad weather conditions apparently delayed the woman from being medevaced from the cruise ship until the following morning when the cruise ship was approximately from the cruise ship was 15 miles east of Charleston. The Coast Guard station in Charleston had received notification at around 6:27 p.m. Monday and launched a MH-65 Dolphin rescue helicopter from Savannah at 7 a.m. due to low visibility from heavy fog Monday night. The woman and a nurse were hoisted and taken to Roper St. Francis Hospital at 8:13 a.m.

Approximately four hours later, the Carnival ship contacted the Coast Guard and requested a second medevac involving a 64 year-old woman who was reportedly suffering from severe stomach pains. The Pride was 35 miles east of Savannahat this time.

The Carnival cruise ship contacted the Coast Guard station in Charleston for the need for a second passenger rescue at around 11:30 a.m. and the Coast Guard launched a MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Savannah around 11:45 a.m. The woman and a nurse were hoisted and taken to Memorial University Medical Center at around 1:49 p.m.

The Coast Guard noted that both woman are reportedly in stable condition.

Medevacs by the U.S. Coast Guard are paid for U.S. taxpayers; there are no expenses directly to the cruise line or cruise passenger or, in cases involving crew members, to the cruise ship employees if they require emergency evacuation from the ship.

Yesterday, a Portuguese air force helicopter medevaced a crew member from the Saga Sapphire south of the island of Madeira, according to JM Madeira.

The medical rescue of the crew member was the result of the coordination between the Portuguese navy, through the Center for the Coordination of Maritime Search and Rescue of Ponta Delgada (MRCC), and the Funchal Search and Rescue Coordination Sub-Center (MRSC), the Air Force (FAP) and the Regional Service (SRPC).

The medevac took place on Saturday, January 27, 2018.

The crew member was reportedly a 24-year-old British national who was aboard the Malta-flagged Saga Sapphire which was sailing about 233 miles (431 km) southwest of the island of Madeira.

The alert was received by MRSC Funchal at 8:37 a.m. in the morning. A rescue helicopter and a C295 aircraft of the Madeira Air Detachment of FAP, located in Porto Santo (an island near Madeira) were dispatched to the cruise ship. The helicopter hoisted the crew member aboard and then flew him to the airport in Madeira at around 3:50 p.m. He was then taken to the Dr. Nélio Mendonça Hospital in Funchal, Madeira.

This morning the United States Coast Guard medevaced a 23 year old passenger from the cruise ship, Royal Caribbean's Vision of the Seas, according to a Baton Rouge news station.

The young woman was suffering from "suspected internal bleeding from a prior incident." It is less than clear what prior incident the news account is referring to.

The cruise ship was reportedly 100 miles south of Southwest Pass, Louisiana when the Eighth Coast Guard District launched a helicopter and a HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft to assist in the rescue of the woman.

The Coast Guard said the helicopter aircrew arrived on scene at 10 a.m. this morning and took the woman from the cruise ship to Jefferson Medical Center in New Orleans where the woman was reported to be in stable condition.

A Westpac rescue helicopter medevaced a passenger from a Carnival cruise ship off the coast of New South Wales (NSW), Australia yesterday .

The 40-year-old passenger was reportedly suffering a stroke on the Carnival Spirit cruise ship about 50 miles from Port Macquarie on NSW's mid-north coast. The rescue helicopter winched the passenger from the Spirit and airlifted her to Newcastle's John Hunter Hospital for further treatment.

There have been a number of medevacs from the Carnival Spirit cruising around Australia in this past year.

A Westpac helicopter flown by the NSW Ambulance and Australian Maritime Safety Authority reportedly medevaced a 32-year-old male passenger from the Carnival Spirit a week ago.

The Portuguese Air Force medevaced a passenger from the AIDAblu cruise ship which was 257 kilometers from Montijo, Portugal. The rescue took place under adverse weather conditions, described as strong winds of approximately knots, and waves of eight meters.

The medevac involved a a 47-year-old man in need of urgent medical care iof an undisclosed nature.

Several passengers onboard the Norwegian Star state that the NCL cruise ship is returning to Miami a day early due to a medical emergency.

One passenger on the ship writes:

"The Norwegian Star is speeding to Miami, to arrive 10 hours early due to a passenger medical emergency onboard. The Star will now arrive at 6 PM on Sunday instead of 4 AM Monday. Passengers other than the medical evacuee must remain on board until the regular disembarkation date . . . "

If this information is in fact accurate, it seems odd that the Star has not contacted the U.S. Coast Guard to request a helicopter medevac.

According to Florida Today, aircrews from Patrick Air Force Base medevaced an ill passenger from the Royal Caribbean Grandeur of the Seas yesterday.

The Grandeur was en route to to Baltimore, Maryland when the air force base was requested to assist in evacuating a passenger reportedly suffering from appendicitis on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship. The cruise ship was approximately 690 miles off of Cape Canaveral, according to the article. (Although the video information suggests that the ship was about 500 miles from Brevard County).

The U.S. Coast Guard was not involved in the operation, according to Coast Guard officials.

According to the article, the passenger was accompanied by his spouse aboard the rescue helicopter, and flown to Holmes Regional Medical Center, in Melbourne Florida, where he reportedly is recovering,

The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a passenger from a Carnival cruise ship off the North Carolina coast yesterday.

The Coast Guard reports that yesterday, around noon, the Carnival Pride cruise ship contacted the Coast Guard command center in Wilmington reporting that a 71-year-old man was suffering a heart attack while the ship was approximately 40 miles east of Morehead City, North Carolina.

The Coast Guard's station in Elizabeth City dispatched a MH-80 helicopter which flew to the cruise ship and hoisted the passenger and a nurse and transported them to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville. There is no reported information regarding the man's condition.

The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a 14 year old boy from a NCL cruise ship approximately 300 miles east of Ocean City, Maryland yesterday morning.

The crew of Norwegian Breakaway notified the Coast Guard center in Portsmouth, Virginia that a passenger on the cruise ship was suffering from appendicitis.

The Coast Guard station in Elizabeth City, North Carolina dispatched a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and a HC-130J aircraft to the NCL ship. The helicopter flew the boy and his grandmother to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

Coast Guard medevacs are not charged to the passenger but are paid for by U.S. taxpayers.

Yesterday, the United States Coast Guard medevaced a 39-year-old passenger from a Carnival cruise ship.

The Coast Guard station in Clearwater, Florida deployed a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter on Sunday, April 30, 2017 to the Carnival Elation cruise ship which was approximately 40 miles east of Port Canaveral, Florida. The Coast Guard helicopter hoisted the woman from the cruise ship and transferred her to a hospital. There is no information available regarding the nature of the woman's medical condition or her status as a patient.

The U.S. Coast Guard reportedly medevaced a passenger from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship off the North Carolina coast yesterday.

A 70-year-old man, experiencing abdominal pains while aboard the Grandeur of the Seas, as the ship was sailing south, was rescued.

A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew and a C-130 Hercules aircraft crew was launched from ain Guard station in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The helicopter arrived at the cruise ship when it was about 150 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

The passenger was hoisted from the ship and onto the helicopter, and then taken to New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, NC.

The U.S. Coast Guard reports that it dispatched a helicopter to medevac a passenger from a Carnival cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday evening.

The Coast Guard said that it received a report from the Carnival Triumph on Wednesday evening that a 45-year-old male passenger was suffering from an apparent heart attack.

The Coast Guard sent an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from New Orleans to the cruise ship, which was about 11 miles south of Southwest Pass, Louisiana.

Crew members from the helicopter then hoisted the man and a nurse from the cruise ship and flew them its station in New Orleans, The passenger arrived in stable condition. He was then taken to West Jefferson Medical Center in Marrero.

We regularly report on medevacs of passengers and crew members from cruise ships.

The majority of the medevacs occur near U.S. ports courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard. But there are medevacs which occur outside of the United States, including those performed by the Portuguese Air Force.

The latest rescue involved the P&O Aurora, on January 8th of this year, regarding the medical evacuation of an 82 year-old patient nearly 600 kilometers from the Portuguese Coast. The air force sent a fixed wing ahead to support the helicopter.

The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a passenger from a Carnival cruise ship yesterday.

The Coast Guard medevaced a 72-year-old woman Saturday from the Carnival Pride which was approximately 50 miles east of Savannah, Georgia.

The Carnival ship notified the Coast Guard station in Charleston around noon that the woman was experiencing pneumonia but was not reacting to medical treatment. A Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Air Station Savannah medevaced the woman an hour and one-half later and transported her to Savannah Memorial Hospital shortly after 2:30 p.m.

The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a 66-year-old passenger woman on Sunday from the Carnival Conquest cruise ship.

The Carnival ship was 27 miles north of Cat Island, Bahamas when the woman was medevaced.

The passengers was reportedly suffering symptoms of a stroke. The Coast Guard station in Clearwater deployed a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew.

According to Coast Guard News, the "helicopter crew arrived on scene, hoisted the patient along with her husband and a nurse from the cruise ship, and flew them to Nassau, Bahamas" where the crew transferred the patient to the emergency room at Doctors Hospital.

The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a 63-year-old woman from a Holland America Line (HAL) cruise ship approximately 60 miles east of Virginia Beach yesterday morning.

The HAL Rotterdam was sailing from Boston to Fort Lauderdale, Florida when it requested the Coast Guard to medically evacuation a passenger who was reportedly suffering from stroke-like symptoms.

At about 8:30 a.m. yesterday, a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter launched from the Coast Guard station in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The aircrew arrived at the cruise ship around 9 A.M and hoisted the ill woman and her husband to the helicopter.

The Coast Guard flew the woman and her husband to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

According to the Crew Center website, earlier this week the Greek Coast Guard medevaced a 55 year old cruise passenger from the Mein Schiff cruise ship.

On October 19, 2016, a helicopter medically evacuated the German passenger who was suffering from cardiac symptoms when the ship was sailing six miles south of the island of Ikaria. The helicopter flew the ill passenger to an airport in Samos where he was transferred by ambulance to a hospital. Samos is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea.

Two crew members and a passenger were reportedly medevaced from two P&O cruise ships within a 24 hour period, according to several newspapers in Australia.

The Gold Coast Bulletin reported that Rescue 500, the Queensland Government air rescue helicopter service, medevaced a male patient from the Pacific Pearl about 70 nautical miles east of the Gold Coast. Other news sources say that the man is a passenger who suffered a head injury.

The sick patient was transported to hospital while the vessel continued south to Sydney.

A cruise passenger and a crew member experiencing unrelated medical problems were also medevaced from the Pacific Jewel.

A video from Rescue 500 Brisbane via Mail Online show the medevac from the Pacific Pearl.

The Defense Imagery Distribution System (DVIDS) reports that the U.S Coast Guard medevaced a 47 year old crew member from the Ruby Princess early this morning.

The air medevac took place when the Princess Cruises cruise ship was approximately 9 miles southwest of Point Loma, San Diego.

The Ruby Princess contacted the Coast Guard in San Diego late last night (at approximately 11:35 P.M.), reporting that a Princess crew member was experiencing symptoms of a heart attack.

The Coast Guard deployed a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter at approximately 1 A.M. The helicopter then hoisted the man onto the helicopter at approximately 2:05 A.M. The crew member was then transferred to an ambulance once the helicopter returned to its base in San Diego and taken to a local hospital.

The Portuguese Air Force reports that yesterday, it rescued a passenger from the Mein Schiff 1 cruise ship, about 100 kilometers northwest of Montijo. The passenger, an 80 years old German woman, needed urgent medical attention, according to the official site of the Estado Maior da Força Aérea (EMFA).

The 751 Squadron at the Montija Air Base (approximately 35 kilometers from Lisbon) was alerted at around 9:00 P.M. After the rescue, the patient was transported to the Transit Aerodrome 1 in Figo Maduro, who transferred the woman to St. Joseph's Hospital in Lisbon..

In total, the medevac lasted until 2:05 A.M. This year, the EMFA states that it has rescued 20 people on ships and conducted about 98 hours of flight time under this type of mission.

Portugal does not have the equivalent of a Coast Guard like the U.S. Instead, the country has a special unit in its Air Force for emergency evacuation cases.

Thanks to António Costa from Portugal who brought this rescue to our attention.

The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced two cruise ship passengers from NCL's Norwegian Gem today. The NCL cruise ship was off the Virginia coast at the time of the rescue.

The Norwegian Gem notified the Coast Guard shortly after 2:00 a.m. that two men had experienced unspecified medical complications when the ship was approximately 75 miles northeast of Cape Henry.

A MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew and a C-130 Hercules aircraft crew launched from Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The helicopter arrived at the Norwegian Gem when the cruise ship was about 60 miles east of Wachapreague Inlet, and hoisted both men aboard shortly after 5:00 a.m.

Both men were flown to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk.

Earlier today, we reported on a Coast Guard medevac from the same Coast Guard air station yesterday when a 19 year old passenger was rescued from the Norwegian Breakaway when it was 230 miles from the coast of North Carolina.

The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a nineteen year old cruise ship passenger, yesterday, from NCL's Norwegian Breakaway. The cruise passengers was reportedly experiencing severe stomach pain.

The Norwegian Breakaway alerted the Coast Guard yesterday morning that the passenger needed medical treatment when the ship was approximately 400 miles off the North Carolina coast while the ship was returning to New York City.

A MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew and a C-130 Hercules aircraft crew left from Elizabeth City, North Carolina yesterday afternoon. The helicopter arrived at the cruise ship when it was approximately 230 miles northeast of Elizabeth City, at around 5:42 p.m. and medevaced the woman around 6:10 p.m.

The passenger was flown to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk.

The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced two people from a NCL cruise ship this afternoon.

The rescue was initiated when the Norwegian Breakaway, returning to New York from Bermuda, contacted the Coast Guard indicating that a 28 year old woman aboard the cruise ship was experiencing stomach pain. A 38 year old man was also reportedly complaining of stomach pains.

A Coast Guard helicopter and aircraft were dispatched from Elizabeth City this morning and flew approximately 260 miles to the cruise ship to airlift the two passengers to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia. They reportedly are in stable condition.

The United States Coast Guard medevaced a female passenger last night after she sustained a heart attack on the Grand Princess cruise ship.

The woman was described as 57 years old. At the time of the medevac, the Princess Cruises' ship was approximately 80 miles southwest of Monterey, California.

The Coast Guard flight surgeon recommended that the passenger be medically evacuated to a hospital for emergency care. A MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from San Francisco flew to the ship and hoisted the woman aboard and flew her to California.

Defense Video and Imagery Distribution Services (DVIDS) reports that the United States Coast Guard medevaced a passenger passenger from a Carnival cruise ship about 115 miles southeast of Galveston yesterday morning.

At around 3:47 a.m., the Carnival Triumph contacted a Coast Guard station in Galveston requesting a medevac for a 43 years old female passenger suffering from a heart attack.

A MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew shortly flew to the cruise ship and arrived at the ship approximately 4 hours later. The helicopter hoisted the woman and ship’s nurse aboard. They were flown to the airport in Galveston and then by ambulance to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

A number of news stations are reporting that the Maryland State Police sent a helicopter to medevac a cruise passenger from the Grandeur of the Seas in the Chesapeake Bay.

The Maryland police officers were notified by the Coast Guard Friday evening that a passenger onboard the Royal Caribbean cruise ship needed to be taken to a hospital for cardiac care.

The helicopter crew stationed at St. Mary’s County Airport in Hollywood, Maryland, was the closest aircraft to the cruise ship which was sailing southwest of Tangier Island.

According to Southern Maryland Online, the Maryland State Police Aviation Command has served Maryland citizens since 1970, and operates a fleet of ten helicopters from seven bases throughout Maryland on a 24/7/365 basis. State Police Aviation Command crews have conducted several hoists of patients off cargo ships, but they believe this is the first hoist of a patient from a cruise ship.

The cruise ship sailed from Baltimore to the Bahamas and Florida on a 7-night cruise.

A Coast Guard crew aboard an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Clearwater, Florida, operating out of Great Inagua, Bahamas, flew to the NCL ship approximately 84 miles northeast of Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands.

The woman was hoisted from the Norwegian Getaway shortly after 11 A.M. yesterday after she began suffering symptoms of pneumonia.

The cruise ship was approximately 90 miles northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico when the passenger needed emergency medical treatment.

The Coast Guard helicopter hoisted the patient and a cruise ship nurse and transported them to the Isla Grande Airport, where emergency medical services transported them to the "Centro Medico" Hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The United States Coast Guard is reporting that it last night it medevaced a 77 year old female cruise ship passenger suffering from a stroke approximately 200 miles east of Wilmington, North Carolina.

The ill woman was on the Carnival Pride.

The Coast Guard air crew arrived on the scene at at sea on scene and hoisted the passenger, a family member and a nurse from the cruise ship into a MH-60 helicopter at about 7:30 p.m.

The helicopter flew the woman to the Vidant Medical Center in Greenville, North Carolina, arriving at about 9 p.m.

The U.S. Coast Guard is reporting that it medevaced a sick passenger from a Carnival cruise ship on Monday. The cruise ship was approximately 140 miles east of Cape Charles, Virginia at the time.

The Carnival Splendor notified the Coast Guard at approximately 5 p.m., requesting a medevac for a 73-year-old passenger experiencing health complications.

An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew and an HC-130 Hercules airplane crew from Elizabeth City, North Carolina, launched at approximately 6 p.m.

The helicopter crew arrived at the Splendor at approximately 7 p.m. and hoisted the man and a nurse to the helicopter and flew to a hospital in in Norfolk.

No video is currently available.

The Splendor is perhaps best known for an engine room fire in 2010 which disabled the ship. The Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier had to ferry it food for the passengers. The stricken ship was towed to San Diego.

Miami news stations are reporting that several passengers from the Holland American Line Ryndam were medevaced to hospitals in Miami this evening.

WSVN Channel 7 reports that one of the victims suffered a leg injury, one sustained a head injury, and a third passenger may have suffered a heart attack.

The news station says that the Ryndam cruise ship came within three miles from shore so Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue crews could pick up the injured and ill passengers. One passenger was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital and a second one to to Mercy Hospital.

The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a passenger yesterday Wednesday from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship 95 miles east of Cape Lookout, North Carolina.

The Grandeur of the Seas contacted the Coast guard yesterday afternoon, stating that a 71-year-old female passenger was suffering from abdominal pain.

The Coast Guard sent a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Elizabeth City, North Carolina, at about 2:20 p.m. which arrived at the cruise ship around 4 p.m.

The helicopter lifted the passenger and her husband and a member of the ship's infirmary. The helicopter then flew Morehead City, North Carolina, to provide medical treatment to the passenger at a local hospital.

A doctor, paramedic and rescue crewman were first winched down from the helicopter to the cruise ship to treat the passenger. The sick passenger was then winched up into the helicopter and flown to a hospital in Newcastle.

The Defense Video and Imagery Services reports that the U.S. Coast Guard rescued a 66 year old passenger from a Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) cruise ship last night approximately 220 miles in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North Carolina.

The Coast Guard received a call from the Norwegian Gem shortly before midnight stating that a 66 year old female passenger was suffering from from diabetes complications.

A MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter flew from North Carolina. The helicopter hoisted the woman and flew her to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia.

A newspaper in Alabama reports that a United States Coast Guard helicopter medevaced an 8-month-old baby girl from a Carnival cruise ship early yesterday morning.

Reporter Debbie Lord reported that the Carnival Triumph contacted the Coast Guard in Houston Sunday evening to request a medical evacuation when a baby began suffering from seizures and trouble breathing.

A Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter flew around 230 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico and back to transport the the baby, her mother and a nurse to a hospital in Houston, landing after 2:00 A.M.

Newspapers in New Jersey are reporting that the U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a passenger from a Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) ship on January 15th, approximately 75 miles east of Atlantic City.

The NCL ship doctor on the Norwegian Breakaway contacted the Coast Guard shortly before 8 P.M. to report that a 67 year old woman was in need of immediate medical assistance. A Coast Guard helicopter from Atlantic City arrived at the Norwegian Breakaway at around 9:30 P.M., hoisted the woman aboard, and transferred her back to in Atlantic City for further medical assistance.

The helicopter crew stated that their primary concern was keeping the passenger warm because of freezing temperatures.

On Saturday night, PTZtv (which operates the web cam for the Port of Ft. Lauderdale) began tweeting that the Oasis, which had just left port in Ft. Lauderdale, was quickly heading back to port after a cruise passenger had experienced an injury on the cruise ship.

After the gigantic cruise had transferred the passenger to a pilot boat which met the Oasis a mile or so from port, the ship set sail again. But to the surprise of those following the Oasis on AIS tracking services, the ship quickly turned around a second time for another medical emergency.

There was speculation that a passenger had suffered a heart attack (possibly fatal). This time the Oasis elected to enter the port and dock.

In situations like these, there inevitably is talk of passenger inconvenience, demands for compensation by those supposedly "inconvenienced" and other similar nonsense.

It takes a great amount of fuel to turn a ship like this around. There is always pressure on the captain and officers to be on time and make all of the ports on the itinerary as scheduled. But it's important for the ship doctors to be free to make medical decisions for the health and safety of the passengers and crew free from such financial issues and corporate meddling.

Read this case where the Oasis of the Seas didn't take the necessary steps to respond to a serious medical emergency and the disastrous effects on a cruise passenger.

CBS Miami Channel 4 reports tonight that a cruise passenger aboard a Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) ship was medevaced over the weekend after he choked on a piece of meat. At one point, emergency dispatchers reported that he was not breathing.

The water was too rough to make a vessel-to-vessel transfer. A Miami-Dade helicopter hoisted the young man and flew him to Jackson Memorial Hospital.

The United States Coast Guard News reports that a Coast Guard helicopter from San Diego performed a medical evacuation of 34 year old a passenger who was suffering from appendicitis aboard a cruise ship 35 miles southwest of San Diego on Sunday.

The Carnival Inspiration contacted the Coast Guard early Sunday morning and requested a medevac for the passenger.

An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter flew to the cruise ship, hoisted the passenger aboard, and transported him to San Diego for emergency medical treatment.

The Coast Guard News reports that a Coast Guard MH-60 helicopter medevaced a 84 year old passenger from the Holland America Line cruise ship Oosterdam near Glacier Bay last week.

The helicopter flew from Sitka and hoisted the elderly passenger from the cruise ship and transferred her to Juneau.

The Oosterdam reported that the woman was possibly suffering from a stroke. The Coast Guard flight surgeon recommended that the woman be medevaced from he cruise ship.

We first heard of the incident from another passenger who emailed us today, saying:

"While sailing on the Oosterdam on 9/5/14 in Glacial Bay Alaska, we had a helicopter medical evacuation. The conditions were very poor, heavy fog. The Coast Guard out of Sitka, Alaska did a great job. The Coast Guard in Alaska, work in hazardous conditions, and deserve many thanks."

If you have a thought about this case, please leave a comment below or join the discussion on our Facebook page.

The Miami Coast Guard station received a message this morning that a 26-year old man aboard the Carnival cruise ship Fascination was suffering symptoms of appendicitis. At the time, the Carnival cruise ship was about 32 miles east of Lake Worth, Florida.

The cruise passenger was medevaced by a small Coast guard vessel and taken to a marina where local emergency medical workers were waiting.

Providing emergency medical services like this is one of the many services which our federal government provides for free to cruise lines like Carnival.

The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced an ill 65-year-old woman from the Carnival Paradise early this morning.

The Carnival cruise ship was approximately 70 miles west of Boca Grande, Florida.

According to the Coast Guard, the master of the cruise ship notified the Coast Guard station in St. Petersburg, around 10:46 p.m. last night, that the passenger needed medical assistance due to chest pains. A Coast Guard flight surgeon was consulted and recommended that the passenger be medically evacuated from he ship.

At approximately 1 a.m. this morning, a Coast Guard helicopter, a MH 60 Jayhawk, lifted the passenger and a cruise ship nurse aboard and transported them to Tampa General Hospital.

Local Miami news station WSVN channel 7 reports this morning that Miami Fire Rescue medevaced a Royal Caribbean cruise ship passenger who sustained a serious head injury. The medevaced occurred last night.

The medical evacuation occurred on the Majesty of the Seas cruise ship. WSVN says that the passenger suffered the injury while the cruise ship was approximately four miles from the port of Miami.

The video shows the cruise ship passenger being transferred from the Majesty through an open crew entrance into the Miami Fire Rescue rescue vessel. These type of transfers are dangerous. Passengers have been dropped into the sea during the transfers if they are done incorrectly. You can see a terrifying botched passenger rescue here.

The Fire Rescue then returned to port and the passenger was taken for emergency medical treatment at Mercy Hospital.

The video also shows cruise passengers who witnessed the event cheering and applauding the paramedics.

Update: A local CBS news station reports that the passenger is a 32 year old Swedish citizen. A spokesperson for the cruise line said that the passenger was first treated in the medical facility on the Majesty of the Seas ship on Tuesday but on Wednesday the passenger required “additional and urgent medical attention.”

The Defense Video and Imagery Distribution System (DVIDS) reports that the U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a cruise passengers from a cruise ship returning from Freeport Bahamas yesterday.

The Coast Guard deployed a MH-65 dolphin helicopter to perform a medical evacuation of a a 56-year old male passenger suffering severe pain aboard the Bahamas Celebration northeast of Palm Beach, Florida, on May 18, 2014.

The man was airlifted to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida.

The Coast Guard stated that it medevaced a 25-year-old man and 60-year-old woman at around 5:45 a.m. from the Carnival Splendor after the cruise ship being reported them ill and in need of emergency medical attention. Earlier, a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and HC-130 Hercules were dispatched.

The Coast Guard helicopter hoisted the two passengers from the ship and up and flew them to New Hanover Regional Medical Center.

Defense Video and Imagery Distribution System reports that a San Diego-based Coast Guard Jayhawk helicopter evacuated an ill woman from a Carnival cruise ship yesterday.

The Carnival Imagination was approximately 30 miles off the coast of Point Loma, California on May 7, 2014 when it contacted the Coast Guard and requested a medevac for a 41-year-old American woman, believed to be a passenger. She was experiencing abdominal pain.

WAVY.com reports that the U.S. Coast Guard medevaces a cruise passenger from a carnival cruise ship last night.

The Carnival Splendor notified the Coasy Guard around 10:45 p.m. last night that a 66 year old man was in medical distress. An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter was dispatched from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina to assist.

The helicopter crew arrived at the cruise ship around 1:30 a.m. about 50 miles east of Wilmington and hoisted the passenger. The Coast Guard took him to Wilmington International Airport where he was transported to New Hanover Regional Medical Center.

The U.S. Coast Guard announced today that it rescued a 51-year-old cruise passenger who was suffering from undisclosed medical issues while aboard a Carnival cruise ship approximately 130 miles southwest of Key West, Florida.

Shortly after noon yesterday, the Coast Guard in Key West received a report from the Carnival Liberty indicating thata cruise passenger suffered an illness while crossing the Gulf of Mexico.

The coast Guard launched a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Clearwater. When the helicopter arrived, the aircrew hoisted the passenger transported him to Lower Keys Medical Center in Key West.

The Royal Caribbean ship contacted the Coast Guard via VHF-FM at approximately 9 p.m. Saturday night and reported that a passenger suffered a head injury and was in need of medical assistance.

The Coast Guard crew, together with Virginia Beach Fire Department personnel, responded with a 45-foot response boat. The crew arrived at the cruise ship at approximately 1:30 a.m. this morning. They transferred the man and his wife aboard the Coast Guard boat and took them ashore. The passengers were then transferred to local emergency medical services and taken to Virginia Beach General Hospital.

There is no indication how the passenger was injured. Many people have informed us that the Grandeur encountered rough weather heading back to port, although it is unknown whether the passenger's injury was related to sea and wind conditions.

The U.S. Coast Guard reports that it medevaced a 66-year-old passenger from a Carnival cruise ship yesterday when the ship was approximately 180 miles southwest of Marco Island, Florida.

The Carnival Paradise contacted the Coast Guard around 2:00 PM yesterday regarding a male passenger who was suffering from an undisclosed medical illness while the cruise ship was sailing to Tampa.

A MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter was dispatched from the Coast Guard's station in Clearwater.

FOX News reports that when the Coast Guard helicopter crew arrived at the cruise ship, the aircrew lowered their rescue swimmer, hoisted the ill cruise passenger and transported him to Tampa General Hospital for medical care.

WPLG Local 10 News reports that a Coast Guard helicopter medevaced a 21 year old passenger from the Disney Fantasy cruise ship yesterday.

The 21 year-old man had finished two scuba dives near Key West and returned to the Disney cruise ship complaining of chest pain. The ship medical doctor took x-rays and determined that one of his lungs was partially collapsed.

The doctor consulted with the Coast Guard which medevaced the passenger.

News sources are reporting that the U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a woman from a Carnival cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean off Toms River, New Jersey yesterday.

The Coast Guard in Philadelphia was notified by the Carnival Splendor that an 84-year-old Canadian woman fell, and sustained injury to her hip, and needed emergency medical treatment.

A Coast Guard helicopter flew from Atlantic City and medevaced the injured woman from the cruise ship to Atlantic City.

Carnival released the following statement to Cruise Law News:

"On Wednesday night a female guest on the Carnival Splendor in need of immediate medical attention was airlifted by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter shortly after the vessel departed New York on an eight-day cruise. The guest was taken to a shoreside medical facility for further treatment.

Carnival Splendor is sailing on an eight-day cruise that departed New York on Feb. 5 and is scheduled to return on Feb. 13."

The Tampa Tribune reports that the Coast Guard medevaced an ill passenger via helicopter from a Carnival cruise ship today.

The Coast Guard in Miami sent a helicopter to medically evacuate a 27-year-old man from the Carnival Fantasy after he began experiencing severe abdominal pain.

The cruise ship was reportedly more than 80 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral, Florida. The helicopter hoisted the sick passenger and a cruise ship nurse off the cruise ship and then transported the ill man to Cape Canaveral Hospital in Cocoa Beach around noon today.

Two and a half days ago, a cruise passenger on the Carnival Magic emailed us and told us that: (1) the ship was delayed returning to Galveston by fog (2) a fire had apparently broken out on deck 11 causing smoke and ending up with the hallways drenched with water, and (3) a Coast Guard helicopter medevaced an ill passenger from the cruise ship.

The email from the Carnival passenger came to me early Sunday morning shortly after 7:30 AM as the ship waited for the flog to lift and I waited for my first cup of coffee. We emailed Carnival for confirming information, and then published our article around 1:00 P.M. We included Carnival's comments that a fire allegedly didn't break out and that the smoke was caused, as Carnival says, by an "overheated electrical component." Carnival also confirmed the Coast Guard helicopter medevac.

Today, two days after we published our article, Cruise Critic published an article entitled: Smoke Scare Onboard Carnival Cruise Ship. The Cruise Critic article discussed the smoke versus fire issue and mentioned that a cruise passenger was medevaced Saturday afternoon and fog caused a delay in the ship getting back to Galveston.

The Cruise Critic article relied on information we released (and spun the story in favor of Carnival) without any credit for the story to us.

It is the norm in reporting and the world of social media to acknowledge sources of information. For example, when the Daily Mail in the U.K. (one of the most widely-read internet newspapers in the world) writes a cruise story which we break, it will cite us and link to us. You may think that the Daily Mail is sensational, but linking to sources is what reputable, professionals do. For example, read this Daily Mail article based on information in our blog which we broke after a cruise passenger emailed us.

One thing that we take seriously here at Cruise Law News is being 100% accurate and transparent in crediting the right people and organizations responsible for breaking news stories. None of our stories ever go out without a credit. It does not matter if it's our rival law firms. If someone had a big verdict against a Miami-based cruise line, we report it. We name the lawyer and include a photograph. No other law firm does that.

If Cruise Critic, USA Today's CruiseLog, Cruise Currents, CruiseMates or who-know-who breaks a story, we will of course name them and provide a link to their site.

Many people criticize us for writing about negative cruise stories and having a vendetta against Carnival and Royal Caribbean. You may not like our opinions. Readers should take our articles with a grain of salt. After all, our motto here is "everything the cruise lines don't want you to know." We are often on television, cable news, radio and in newspapers sending our view of cruising out into the stratosphere. We know it is irritating to the hard core cruise fans.

You can disagree and criticize us for our opinions, but you cannot ever fault us for being anything other than honest in crediting the sources of our stories.

Cruise Critic, on the other hand, is not transparent. It takes credit for other's information. It can be a shill all it wants. But it should not take credit when it is not due.

I suppose, from that perspective, it is the perfect publication to cover the far-from-transparent cruise industry.

This morning at 7:39 AM, I received the following information from a passenger on the Carnival Magic returning to port in Galveston:

"We sit outside the harbor in the fog this morning. Last night the coast guard had to airlift a passenger for medical reasons and yesterday morning we had a fire. Deck 11 forward. The crew says it was not a fire but hot electrical. Smoke was coming down to other decks, there is water and wet floors up there so they can call it what they want . . . Pic of the chopper attached."

We are also told Carnival had fans and machines out on deck 11 and there was standing water in the halls. One passenger said "it might have just been a hot circuit but they sure used a lot of water, which made no sense on electrical."

Passengers are now disembarking from the cruise ship.

Does anyone on this cruise have information, photos or video to share?

"On Saturday morning aboard the Carnival Magic, there was a smell of smoke reported along a guest corridor. The issue was identified as an overheated electrical component within an air conditioning vent located within a guest stateroom. There was no fire. The issue has since been fixed. Guests were kept apprised of the situation with announcements over the ship’s public address system and shipboard staff were positioned in the area where the smoke was reported to advise guests and answer any questions.

Additionally, on Saturday afternoon, the ship rendezvoused with a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter to airlift a guest in need of immediate medical attention. The guest was taken to a shoreside medical facility for further treatment.

Carnival Magic was on a seven-day cruise to the Caribbean that returned to its home port of Galveston earlier this morning."

According to the Defense Video & Imagery Service, the U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a 56-year-passenger today from a cruise ship.

The Royal Caribbean Grandeur of the Seas notified the Coast Guard at approximately 10 PM last night that the woman was is medical distress. The cruise ship was approximately 300 miles east of Orlando, Florida. At approximately 3:30 AM this morning, a Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules aircraft and an MH-60 Jayhawk took off by Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

The helicopter arrived at the cruise ship at 6:20 AM. and transported the woman to New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, North Carolina.

A MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter flew to the cruise ship from Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

The cruise ship was approximately 38 miles off the coast. the helicopter crew hoisted the woman aboard the helicopter and flew her to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville, North Carolina.

The second medevac involved the Coast Guard hoisting a woman from the Carnival Fascination cruise ship. The Coast Guard in Miami said that the Carnival cruise ship contacted it after a woman was showing signs of cardiac arrest on Sunday night.

The ship was approximately 38 miles offshore from St. Lucie County.

The Coast Guard helicopter flew the woman to Broward General Hospital where she was reportedly in stable condition.

ABC News reports that a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter (MH-60) and aircraft (C-130) were dispatched from Clearwater Florida in response to an emergency request from the Carnival's Victory cruise ship this morning.

This evening Cruise Critic reported that Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas altered her itinerary yesterday because three passengers were evacuated from the cruise ship for medical reasons.

The popular online community said that a helicopter airlifted one person from Coco Cay. Later, the cruise ship was diverted to Nassau, Bahamas to send two other people to the hospital. A spokesperson for Royal Caribbean reportedly said that the three incidents were not related.

There was no indication regarding the nature of illnesses and/or injuries or whether the medical emergencies involved passengers or crew members.

The Freedom of the Seas stopped at San Juan today rather than sail to St. Thomas.

There is no indication whether passengers will be offered any type of compensation for the missed port.

A news station in Norfolk Virginia reports that the U.S. Coast Guard medevaced an ill passengers from a Carnival cruise ship near Norfolk to a local hospital today.

The news station states that this morning at around 10:45 A.M., the Carnival Splendor cruise ship contacted the Coast Guard regarding a 57-year-old woman who required medical assistance.

Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C. dispatched a helicopter crew to respond to the medical emergency.

The Coast Guard helicopter flew to the cruise ship, which was about 80 miles east of Norfolk, at around 12:30 P.M. The Coast Guard crew then hoisted the woman into the helicopter and flew her to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

WWLP reports that the Coast Guard rescued an ill 67-year-old man from the cruise ship Queen Mary II, 47 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

The cruise ship contacted the Coast Guard, requesting assistance for a passenger suffering from severe bleeding.

A MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter was sent with a rescue crew to medically evacuate the passenger. The helicopter hoisted the man and brought him back to Air Station Cape Cod for ground transport to Cape Cod Hospital.

The newspaper quoted a Coast Guard spokesperson saying:"Hoisting an injured passenger off an underway cruise ship takes a surprising amount of expertise and moving parts, and our crews take pride every time they do it. This case is a great example of our unique role as maritime first responders."

The Coast Guard last rescued a sick passengers from the Queen Mary II in December 2011 when it hoisted an ill 64 year old woman from the cruise ship off the coast of North Carolina. You can see a video of that rescue below.

A CBS station in San Diego is reporting that the U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a 75-year-old man who suffered a heart attack while aboard a Holland America Line (HAL) cruise ship.

The Coast Guard received notification late last night that that a HAL passenger was experiencing a medical emergency aboard the Westerdamcruise ship. at the time, the cruise ship was 15 miles off of Mission Bay, California.

The Coast Guard dispatched a helicopter from San Diego and the patient and the ship's nurse were hoisted and taken to the hospital.

You can see the medevac operation in the video below courtesy of Coast Guard News.

Local news stations in San Francisco are reporting that the U.S. Coast rescued a cruise passengers man suffering from acute kidney failure aboard a Princess cruise ship 40 miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge yesterday morning.

A 79-year-old Canadian man was demonstrating symptoms of kidney failure while aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship which was sailing to Los Angeles.

The Coast Guard helicopter lowered a crew member was lowered onto the ship and then hoisted the sick passenger and the cruise ship’s nurse up to the helicopter.

The passenger flown to Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto and was in stable condition Friday afternoon.

KCAW reports that a Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew, based in Sitka, Alaska, medevaced a 72-year-old woman from the cruise ship Diamond Princess in Icy Strait on September 19, 2013.

The woman, suffering from convulsions, was safely transferred to awaiting emergency medical personnel in Sitka, about 100 miles south of Icy Strait. EMS then transported her to Sitka Community Hospital for further care.

Seas were calm at the time of the medevac, with 12 mile winds and 6 miles visibility.

The video below is courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard / Air Station Sitka.

The U.S. Coast Guard released a statement that a helicopter crew medevaced a 34-year-old Indonesian crew member from the Carnival Conquest while the cruise ship was sailing 172 miles southeast of New Orleans yesterday.

The 8th Coast Guard District received a report from the Carnival cruise ship that a crew member fell and struck her head on the deck. At the time of the report, the cruise ship was out of the flight range of the helicopter in the Gulf of Mexico. The Coast Guard directed the Carnival cruise ship to head toward New Orleans.

The MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans launched at 9:30 A.M. It refueled on an offshore drilling rig en route to the cruise ship. The helicopter arrived on scene at 11:20 A.M. and safely hoisted the crew member. The Coast Guard then flew her to Interim LSU Public Hospital for further medical treatment.

Earlier this year, the Coast Guard station in New Orleans medevaced a 46-year-old passenger from the Carnival Conquest cruise ship when the ship was approximately 60 miles south of Southwest Pass. That rescue occurred on February, 16, 2013. The cruise passenger was suffering from a brain hemorrhage and needed medical evacuation to a hospital ashore via helicopter.

A newspaper in Ireland reports that the Belfast Coast Guard arranged for the airlift of a 78-year-old woman from a cruise ship last night due to a heavy nosebleed. The doctor aboard the MS Thomson Spirit reportedly became concerned for the passenger's health.

The Belfast Coast Guard requested the assistance of a Coast Guard helicopter based in Dublin which responded to the emergency call at last night around 10 P.M. The helicopter lifted the passenger from the cruise ship which was located just south of Strangford Lough.

The cruise passenger arrived at Dublin airport around 12:20 A.M. and was then brought to hospital for further treatment which stopped the bleeding.

Cape Code Today reports that U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a 50-year-old man from a NCL cruise ship 160 nautical miles from Nantucket. The man was hoisted by a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and flown to meet an ambulance in Hyannis and then transported to Cape Cod Hospital.

The cruise ship is reportedly the Bahamian flagged Norwegian Dawn.

The passenger reportedly ruptured his spleen after being struck by a kayak in Bermuda on Monday.

The Norwegian Dawn is best known to Miami maritime lawyers as the cruise ship involved in the infamous "rogue wave" case in 2005. Passengers contended that NCL risked the passenger's safety by sailing in rough weather back to New York for a filming of The Apprentice with Donald Trump. A lawsuit filed by a different maritime lawyer against NCL ended in a defense verdict for the cruise line.

The BBC reports that a Royal Air Force helicopter winched a woman off a cruise ship in the English Channel "after becoming ill with a potentially 'life-threatening' condition."

The passenger is a 85 year old woman who was sailing on board the Balmoral cruise ship. The ship had departed Southampton and was heading to Norway.

BBC states that the medical evacuation by the helicopter took place under difficult circumstances as the helicopter from Suffolk had to flew to the ship, which was in heavy fog, 40 miles out at sea. The weather conditions caused the rescue efforts to become "extremely challenging."

Visibility was only 165 feet and the cruise ship was describes as "completely enclosed in fog." An airman stated "we had to use radar to locate the vessel because we could barely see."

The 85-year-old woman was transferred to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital.

The Alaska Dispatch reports that a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter medevaced an ill cruise ship passenger off a cruise ship yesterday.

The Jayhawk helicopter crew, stationed in Sitka, flew to the Princess Cruises' Coral Princess cruise ship while it was in Glacier Bay. The helicopter hoisted the passenger, who was suffering from stroke-like symptoms, and transported her to Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau.

Over the weekend, the U.S. Coast Guard rescued a cruise passenger who suffered a heart attack from a cruise ship 150 miles off the coast of North Carolina.

The rescue involved a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and an HC-130 Hercules aircraft to assist.

The video below shows the crew aboard the Jayhawk helicopter hover over cruise ship Carnival Splendor in the Atlantic Ocean, 150 miles east of Cape Lookout, North Carolina, Saturday, May 18, 2013. The crew medevaced a heart attack patient and a nurse from the ship and took them to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia.

Two U.S. Coast Guard air crews from San Diego and Sacramento worked together to medevac a sick cruise ship passenger who was in need of emergency medical attention.

According to NBC-7 San Diego, the Holland America Line (HAL) cruise ship, Zaandam, was sailing approximately 200 miles southwest of San Diego when a 71-year-old passenger began experiencing what is described as a serious internal medical condition.

The HAL cruise ship was en route from Hawaii to Ensenada, Mexico. When the passenger became ill, the ship changed course to sail nearer to San Diego.

A MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew took off from San Diego to meet the ship. A C-130 Hercules airplane crew from Sacramento provided support during the rescue.

The top video shows the helicopter crew hoisting the ailing passenger from the cruise ship.

A newspaper in Australia is reporting that a Care Flight helicopter rescued a 22-year-old crew member off a cruise ship off the coast of Arnhem Land.

The helicopter flew to the Celebrity Solstice which was sailing 500 kilometers north east of Darwin, Australia.

The Celebrity crew member reportedly suffered a "cardiac problem." A nurse and doctor accompanied the helicopter after notification from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.

The helicopter was expected to refuel at the remote town of Maningrida before flying another 100 kilometers km out to sea to reach the cruise ship. Unlike many cruise ships, the Solstice has a helipad on the bow.

The newspaper reports that the Celebrity Solstice left Darwin yesterday on a two-day cruise to Cairns, in north Queensland.

This time Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans medevacs a 46-year-old man from the Carnival Conquest cruise ship approximately 60 miles south of Southwest Pass, of Louisiana on February, 16, 2013. The cruise passenger was reportedly suffering from symptoms associated with a brain hemorrhage.

Click on the "Rescue" category to the left and you can watch a large number of medical evacuations performed by our U.S. Coast Guard of ill and injured cruise passengers and crew members each year.

A newspaper in Australia reports today that a passenger aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship was airlifted to safety after falling and seriously injuring his head while the cruise ship was sailing off the coast of Australia.

The newspaper states that "paramedics aboard the Westpac rescue helicopter stabilised the 37-year-old after he took a tumble yesterday on the Radiance of the Seas luxury cruise vessel, which had been travelling north about 80km off Coffs Harbour." Coffs Harbor is on the eastern coast of Australia.

The injured passengers was flown to Coffs Harbor Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

Over the last year there have been more and more stories about successful medevacs of ill or injured passengers from cruise ships sailing off the coast of Australia.

Cruise passengers sailing aboard the Seven Seas Voyager experienced a thrill as their cruise ship assisted in the rescue of three sailors aboard a sailboat off the coast of New Zealand.

According to a newspaper in New Zealand, the cruise ship steamed to the rescue after a ketch called the Sea Wanderer reported engine failure and a loss of navigation systems Sunday evening, when the ketch was 30 kilometers off Marlborough's Clifford Bay.

Passengers described heavy swells and winds of 50 knots. The sailboat was "just completely out of control."

About 30 to 45 minutes later, a helicopter from the Wellington Coast Guard arrived and eventually winched the men safety. The sailors were described as "cold, wet and tired, but otherwise alright."

I am being told by a reliable source that the U.S. Coast Guard is about to conduct an emergency medevac of an ill passenger from the Crown Princess cruise ship which is heading to Galveston and will arrive tomorrow.

It is less than clear whether there is any connection to the norovirus outbreak on the cruise ship. The cruise has been under red level disease alert throughout the crossing from Europe.

The ship is facing heavy swells and the helicopter is facing strong winds.

The last medevac from the Crown Princess was in March. You can see the video here.

Does anyone have information to confirm this latest story?

December 21, 2012 Update: There's an update to this story we reported this morning:

The incident involves a 68 year old woman who was suffering from internal bleeding and had to be medevaced by a Coast Guard MH-65 helicopter which flew 140 miles south of the Mississippi River's Southwest Pass to the Princess cruise ship. The Times Picaynue states that the cruise ship alerted the Coast Guard station in New Orleans about 2 AM this morning, reporting that the woman had received blood transfusions on the ship. At the time, the ship was about 200 miles offshore.

There is a nice article in the West Australia newspaper about a elderly cruise passenger who had the misfortune of falling on a cruise ship.

The article, entitled Love is in the Air Amid Rescue, explains that 88 year-old passenger Ms. Eileen Ewins was traveling with her husband, George Ewins, on Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas as the ship re-positioned to Australia for the next 6 months. She fell as she was exiting her cabin and broke her hip. The ship doctor determined that Ms. Ewins needed to be treated on an emergency basis ashore.

The accident happened on day 12 of the 14 day cruise.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority contacted an offshore helicopter company, the Bristow Group, which sent a helicopter and team of five staff members to fly to cruise ship off of western Australia.

The helicopter winched both 88 year-old Ms. Ewins as well as her 89 year old husband up and flew them to the Royal Perth Hospital.

The U.S. Coast Guard issued a press release indicating that it medically evacuated a passenger from a cruise ship 50 miles southwest of Point Loma yesterday afternoon.

The Carnival Inspiration cruise ship contacted the Coast Guard yesterday shortly before noon requesting a medevac for a 26 year old man who was experiencing rapid heart rate and possible cardiac complications.

Coast Guard Sector San Diego dispatched an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew to fly to the cruise ship to perform the medevac.

The aircrew hoisted the man and the ship’s nurse to the helicopter and transported them to San Diego, where they transferred the ill man to emergency medical personnel.

This was the third medevac from a cruise ship this weekend. Previously the Coast Guard rescued a pregnant passenger from the Disney Magic and flew her to a hospital in Galveston, Texas. And an ill passenger was hoisted by a helicopter, operated by the Australian Navy, from the Sea Princess cruise ship and taken to a hospital in Australia.

A newspaper in Australia reports that an Australian Navy helicopter airlifted a sick elderly passenger from a Princess cruise ship off the coast of Western Australia after a medical emergency today.

The elderly passenger was suffering from acute stomach pains. In response, the Sea Princess cruise ship contacted the Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Toowoomba which was was training nearby the cruise ship as it sailed north of Cape Naturaliste.

The helicopter airlifted the passenger to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital for treatment.

The Sea Princess continued its cruise and is due to arrive in Adelaide in five days.

A Coast Guard helicopter medevaced a sick cruise ship passenger suffering from chest pains from the Carnival Glory, which left Norfolk yesterday. According to WAVY, the 52 year old woman, her husband and a nurse were hoisted off the ship and flown to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

The U.S. Coast Guard reports that it medevaced a 50 year old passenger from the Carnival cruise ship Paradise approximately 30 miles west of Venice, Florida last night.

The Coast Guard station in St. Petersburg Florida received a request at 10:30 p.m., from the Carnival Paradise for a medical evacuation of a man who was suffering from a suspected cardiac attack. Crew members aboard the cruise ship were able to resuscitate the passenger and return him to stable condition but wanted him to be taken to the hospital.

An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla., launched to the scene. Once on scene at 11:42 p.m., the helicopter crew was able to safely hoist the man, his wife and a nurse and transport them to Bradenton Memorial Hospital in Bradenton, Florida.

When a crew member from the Celebrity Summit cruise ship began experiencing severe abdominal cramping, a Coast Guard station in Elizabeth City, North Carolina launched a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter as well as a HC-130 Hercules aircraft to assist in the medevac. The helicopter had to lower one of its crew members, pick up a nurse from the cruise ship and then hoist the sick cruise employee to fly him to a hospital in Norfolk Virginia. All of this happened at night, 290 miles out at sea.

The U.S. Coast Guard has been busy rescuing ill people from cruise ships in the past few days. Last week Coast Guard helicopters flew over 1,000 miles round trip to save lives.

Last week started off with the Coast Guard medevacing a 40 year old male crew member from a Celebrity cruise ship approximately 290 miles off the eastern coast of the U.S. That's a long way to go to rescue a sick person and then return!

The Celebrity Summit notified the Coast Guard, via VHF channel 16, that one of its crew members was suffering from abdominal pain and was in need of medical attention. The Coast Guard 5th District duty flight surgeon consulted with the medical officer aboard the cruise ship and recommended a medevac.

Rescue air crews from Elizabeth City, North Carolina launched a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and an HC-130 Hercules aircraft. With the Hercules crew providing radio and air cover, the Jayhawk hoisted the man and a ship's nurse aboard the helicopter and took them to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

Later in the week, A 72 year old female passenger was medevaced by a Coast Guard helicopter from the Carnival cruise ship Elation approximately 250 miles south of Mobile Bay in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The passenger reportedly experienced kidney problems.

The Eighth Coast Guard District command center in New Orleans received a maritime satellite call from the Carnival Elation and launched a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter. The aircrew transported the sick passenger to Mobile, Alabama where she was treated at Providence Hospital.

Who pays for these extraordinary services? Me and you (if your a taxing paying U.S. citizen) None of the cruise lines pay U.S. taxes on their $35,000,000,000 (billion) in revenue, so the expense of the Coast Guard to rescue people from the foreign flagged cruise ships is borne by all us in the U.S.

The U.S. Coast Guard website reports that it medically evacuated a 41-year-old woman from the Carnival Glory cruise ship today. The passenger reportedly exhibited stroke-like symptoms.

The cruise ship was approximately 55 miles southeast of Nantucket, Massachusetts at the time of the emergency.

Coast Guard Sector Boston received the word from the Carnival cruise ship at approximately 3:35 p.m. In response, Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod launched a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter to the scene. The helicopter hoisted the ill woman up to safety and then transported her to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, R.I.

The Coast Guard website quotes a John Tomaszewski , a search and rescue coordinator at Sector Boston, "our crews launched swiftly . . . they were able to hoist her and get her the care she needed.

The Coast Guard did not comment on the passenger's medical condition.

The last medevac from the Carnival Glory occurred, according to our records, in May 2010 when the Coast Guard in Miami rescued that a 36 year-old pregnant woman who needed emergency medical treatment.

A newspaper in Savannah reports that yesterday the U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a 63 year old woman from a cruise ship sailing in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 60 miles east of Savannah to a local hospital in Savannah.

Coast Guard Sector Charleston received notification at about around 10:08 p.m. Saturday night from crew members aboard the Carnival Fantasy cruise ship via VHF-FM marine radio channel 16. The cruise ship reported that that the woman had fallen down some stairs, suffered a laceration on her head, and was in need of medical attention that could not be provided on the ship.

The newspaper states that at approximately 11:14 p.m., the Coast Guard launched an MH-65 Dolphin air rescue crew which arrived on at the cruise ship around 11:40 p.m. The helicopter hoisted the injured woman and a cruise ship nurse from the deck of the cruise ship and transported them to the hospital.

The newspaper does not mention where the cruise passenger was from.

There have been a number of Coast Guard medevacs from the Carnival Fantasy recently. On April 24, 2012, the Coast Guard medevaced a 56 year old man from the Fantasy when it was 60 miles southeast of Jacksonville, Florida. A week later, the Coast Guard rescued a 57 year old man from the same ship while it was sailing 160 miles southwest of Marco Island.

The Coast Guard reports that it medically evacuated a 56 year passenger from the Carnival Fantasy cruise ship sixty miles southeast of Jacksonville on Today.

Crew members on board the cruise ship notified the Coast Guard just after 8 AM that a male passenger was experiencing respiratory failure and needed medical attention.

Coast Guard Air Station Savannah launched an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter rescue crew to the scene.

The helicopter arrived at the location of the Fantasy around 10 AM. The crew lifted the passenger from the deck, along with his wife and a cruise ship nurse, and transport them to a hospital in Jacksonville, Florida. The passenger is reportedly in stable condition.

The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a woman from a cruise ship 145 miles south east of Galveston, on Apr. 1, 2012.

The Coast Guard station in Houston-Galveston received a report at approximately 8:08 p.m., that a 44-year old female crew member aboard the cruise ship, Carnival Magic, was having complications with her pregnancy. A MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and rescue crew arrived at the scene at approximately 10 p.m. The rescue crew hoisted the woman off the cruise ship Carnival Magic and transported her to awaiting emergency medical services at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

To watch other rescue videos and articles, click on "Rescue" under the "Topics" section to the left.

The United States Coast Guard has been busy rescuing ill passengers from cruise ships over the past week.

Today a newspaper in North Carolina reports that a Coast Guard helicopter medevaced a 49 year old woman from the Carnival Pride cruise ship. The ship was near Virginia at the time of the emergency medical evacuation. The medical condition of the passenger was not disclosed.

An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Elizabeth City, launched to assist, hoisted the woman and ship’s nurse and took them to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk.

Yesterday, the Coast Guard dispatched a helicopter from Belle Chase (near New Orleans) into the Gulf of Mexico to rescue a man aboard Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas cruise ship. According to a newspaper in New Orleans, a MH-65C helicopter flew 132 miles into the Gulf to medevac the passenger who was experiencing stroke-like symptoms. The Coast Guard then transferred the passenger to Touro Infirmary in New Orleans.

Last week, the Coast Guard medevaced a man from the Crown Princess, operated by Princess Cruises. I don't have any information about this medevac. Does anyone have any information about this event or the other two medevacs?

A video of the Crown Princess rescue (credit tigertran01/youtube) is below.

Yesterday a U.S. Coast Guard rescue helicopter medevaced a 47 year old woman female off a cruise ship. The cruise ship was approximately 115 miles northeast of Cape Henry.

The captain of the cruise ship Norwegian Jewel cruise ship contacted the Coast Guard at around 5 PM, reporting they had a passenger with severe abdominal pains who needed medical attention ashore.

An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew and an HC-130 Hercules airplane crew from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C. were dispatched to the scene. The helicopter crew hoisted the woman and her husband off the cruise ship at approximately 7 PM.

A 73 tear old passenger from the Carnival Triumph received a ride of a lifetime when an U.S. Coast Guard helicopter plucked him from the deck of the cruise ship and flew him to Galveston for emergency medical treatment.

The Carnival cruise ship was around 120 miles off the coast of Galveston when the Coast Guard performed the medical evacuations early Friday yesterday morning.

Carnival notified the Coast Guard around 10 PM Thursday night that the cruise passenger had a blood clot in his foot and needed immediate medical treatment. An MH-65C Dolphin rescue helicopter was dispatched from Coast Guard Air Station Houston around 11:40 PM> As you can see from the Coast Guard video below, they helicopter crew successfully lifted the passengers from the Triumph cruise ship. He was flown to the University of Texas Medical Center in Galveston.

We have reported on around a dozen Coast Guard - cruise ship medevacs this year.

The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced an ill passenger from the Queen May 2 cruise ship off of the coast of North Carolina.

The video below shows the the skilled crew of a Coast Guard Jayhawk helicopter lifting a 64 year old woman from the deck of the QM2 cruise ship. The passenger was suffering from severe abdominal pains. The cruise ship was sailing 110 miles off the coast of Nags Head, North Carolina on December 20, 2011. The Coast Guard flew the ill woman to a hospital in Norfolk Virginia.

One of the stories I never tire of reporting is when a Coast Guard helicopter plucks a sick cruise passenger from the deck of a cruise ship and takes the passenger ashore for emergency medical treatment.

The skill of the U.S. Coast Guard in rescuing people from cruise ships is rather remarkable. The Coast Guard can fly 200 miles out to sea to medevac ill and injured passengers and crew. Other than England, Canada and perhaps a few other countries, you will not see anyone performing life saving heroic missions to rescue the needy on the high seas other than the U.S. Coast Guard.

Below is a video of a Coast Guard helicopter hoisting a young woman from the deck of the Explorer cruise ship as the ship returned from a Caribbean cruise. The helicopter took the passenger to a hospital in Key West.

At the end of the video, you can see the young lady in the rescue basket waving to the cruise ship, and kissing goodbye perhaps to a loved one below.

WSVN - TV reports that the U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a cruise passenger after she experienced symptoms of appendicitis.

The incident occurred on December 12, 2011 on the Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas cruise ship about 130 miles southwest of Key West. A Coast Guard helicopter hoisted the 21 year old cruise passenger and transported her to the Lower Keys Medical Center. The cruise ship was sailing back to Port Everglades, Florida.

December 13, 2011 Update and Correction: An astute reader of Cruise Law News noted that the cruise ship is not Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas but, instead, is the SAS' Explorer. Thanks to Tom Roesser from Hawaii who you can follow on twitter at @tomsroesser.

A number of news sources are reporting that yesterday the U.S. Coast Guard medevaced an ill cruise passengerman from a cruise ship to a North Carolina hospital for treatment.

The ship doctor on the Norwegian Cruise ine's Gem cruise ship notified the Coast Guard that a 38-year-old man was going into shock. The cruise ship was reportedly about 75 miles east of Wilmington at the time.

A helicopter from the Coast Guard Air Station in Elizabeth City North Carolina then flew the man from the cruise ship to New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington.

The Coast Guard says the man was in stable condition. His name was not released.

At this moment the U.S. Coast Guard is in the process of medevacing three elderly passengers from a cruise ship 100 miles east of from Hilo, Hawaii.

The Republic reports that an 86 year old man appears to having a heart attack, an 82 year old man has symptoms of internal bleeding, and a 76 year old woman is suffering from abdominal pains.

The helicopter deployed two helicopters and a plane to the Holland America Line cruise ship, the Oosterdam. The cruise ship is headed for San Diego. The Coast Guard intends to take the ill passengers to Hilo Medical Center.

A cruise ship in the middle of the ocean is not where you want to be if you are gravely ill.

The newspaper reports that a Coast Guard flight surgeon made the decision to medically evacuate the elderly passengers after hearing about their conditions from the ship's medical staff.

We have covered lots of cruise ship medevac stories, but none involving three separate passengers in need of emergency medical evacuation.

If you are on the cruise ship and have information or photographs or video of the medevac, please leave us a comment below.

BBC News is reporting today on the dramatic rescue of a critically ill passenger from Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas.

The U.K. Coast Guard was notified by the captain of the Independence of the Seas on Saturday night that a passenger was very ill and needed to be evacuated from the cruise ship. A helicopter was dispatched from Portland, which is in southern England on the Dorset coast, 23 miles out to the cruise ship.

The BBC reports that the helicopter was too heavy for the cruise ship's landing pad. The vessel's crew had to lift the passenger, in her wheelchair, up and into the helicopter as it hovering above them.

A Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokeswoman is quoted stating "in a supreme example of skill, the coastguard helicopter pilot touched the wheels of the aircraft on to the moving deck of the Independence of the Seas, keeping the rotors powered-up so that no weight was taken by the relatively fragile landing pad."

The helicopter then flew the ill woman and her husband to Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester.

The BBC did not comment on the nature of the cruise passenger's critical illness.

We have received comments from crew and passengers that the Independence of the Seas has been experiencing Norovirus outbreaks for much of this year, although it is unknown what ailed this particular passenger.

The Independence of the Seas was last in the news when an oil tanker exploded while the cruise ship was docked at the port in Gibraltar.

Photo credit: Petty Officer 2nd Class Richard Fertig via Defense Video and Imagery Distribution System (image is of U.S. Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter responding to a medical emergency aboard the Explorer of the Seas 230 miles east of Cape Henry Virginia on March 11, 2011.)

WVEC (local ABC channel 13) reports that the Coast Guard airlifted an ill 60 year old passenger from a cruise ship off the coast of North Carolina yesterday.

The passenger was sailing on Carnival's Miracle when he had a heart attack.

The Coast Guard sent a MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter from Air Station Elizabeth City to medevac the man from the Carnival cruise ship, which was about 43 miles off the North Carolina coast. The passenger was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Yesterday, we discussed the latest overboard from a Celebrity cruise ship, this time involving a 31 year old Filipino on the Eclipse who by all accounts committed suicide by climbing a rail and jumping into the English Channel.

While some people may be inclined to say oh,a suicide end of the story, my thought is that an investigation is warranted to study the significant number of crewmembers who decide to end their life in this manner. Is there a correlation between the long hours and difficult working conditions of "ship life" and crew suicides?

There are a number of interesting comments posted on line about this sad incident, which apparently occurred shortly after an ill passenger was medevaced from the Eclipse. A medevac of an ill passenger and a crew suicide is not how you want to remember a family cruise holiday.

One post links to Ship Finder which charted the cruise ship altering course and returning to the location where the crewmember went overboard. It looks like the Eclipse may have originally altered course to sail closer to France to meet the helicopter involved in the passenger medical evacuation.

The U.S. Coast Guard has issued a press release indicating that a MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter from Air Station Sitka safely medevaced a woman from the cruise ship Celebrity Millennium during an Alaskan cruise. The Coast Guard helicopter transported the passenger to Hoonah where she was then flown by aircraft to Juneau.

The passenger, a 59 nine year old woman, reportedly was suffering from symptoms of a stroke.

Medical evacuations by helicopter are routine during emergencies like this while cruise ships are in relatively close proximity to U.S. and Canadian ports of call.

A magazine in Bermuda is reporting that two cruise ships recently diverted toward Bermuda to transfer ill passengers ashore for medical treatment.

On May 9th, the Princess Crown Princess diverted to Bermuda to disembark a 57 year old male passenger who was suffering from breathing difficulties. The magazine reports that the pilot cutter St. George met the cruise ship at the sea buoy and the sick passenger was transfered between the two vessels.

Open water passenger transfers are potentially dangerous exercises. You will recall that a rescue vessel recently dropped an elderly passenger into freezing water while trying to transfer her ashore. A recent investigation found that the crew used unsafe procedures and did not even place a life vest on the sick passenger.

In this case, the Princess passenger was transferred safely to the pilot boat and then ashore where an awaiting ambulance transported him to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

The second diversion occured on May 7th when Princess' Grand Princess altered course toward Bermudato disembark a 55 year old male passenger who needed urgent medical attention. The passenger was also transfered ashore via the same pilot boat.

Both Princess cruise ships were sailing from Port Everglades, Florida to the Azores Islands.

A family from Illinois is thankful that their son survived a medical emergency during a Caribbean cruise aboard Carnival's Dream cruise ship which quickly turned into a nightmare.

NBC Chicago reports that the Cohn family were three days into their week long cruise, when their 14 year old son Stephen became very ill with severe stomach pain and internal bleeding.

Heading to St. Thomas, the captain diverted the cruise ship to Puerto Rico. However, Stephen's medical condition deteriorated and the captain summoned a coast guard helicopter to medevac the child from the ship. The child's mom, Michelle Cohn, was also lifted from the cruise ship and accompanied her son to an intensive care unit in Puerto Rico.

The helicopter rescue avoided what would have been a 6 hours journey to the port in Puerto Rico.

The boy's parents thanked Carnival for saving their son's life, saying "They saved his life. They absolutely saved his life."

The U.S. Coast Guard evacuated a 46 year old passenger from a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico following a fall on Saturday.

Passenger Andrew Spicer was aboard Holland America Line's Ryndam cruise ship when he was reportedly injured. The cruise was roughly 120 miles southwest of St. Petersburg when the Coast Guard helicopter arrived around 8:00 p.m. Mr. Spicer was taken to Tampa General hospital.

On Friday, a Coast Guard rescue helicopter crew medevaced a 16 month old girl and her mother off the Norwegian Gem cruise ship approximately 245 miles south of Cape Lookout, North Carolina. The infant was suffering from upper respiratory tract infection and respiratory distress.

Our U.S. Coast Guard serves an important function of transporting sick and injured passengers to emergency medical facilities ashore. Earlier in the week we discussed the medical and legal implications of cruise medevacs in U.S. Coast Guard Rescues Sick Teenager from NCL's Jewel.

Where you on any of these cruises? Do you have photos or video to share? Please leave a comment . . .

The United States Coast Guard crews medevaced an ill thirteen year old from the Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) Jewel cruise ship near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina on Saturday.

The boy had symptoms of acute appendicitis. The Coast Guard lifted the boy and his mother from the deck of the Jewel and flew them to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

This is the type of story which we have reported on frequently. Medical rescues like this are a regular occurrence when there is a medical emergency and the cruise ships are within the range of Coast Guard helicopters. As I have said many times, a cruise ship is one of the last places on earth you want to be if you have a serious medical issue.

One of the most infamous involving appendicitis aboard a cruise ship is Carnival v. Carlyle. A family from Michigan sailed on Carnival's Ecstasy when 14 year old Elizabeth felt ill with abdominal pain. The family took their daughter to the ship infirmary. The foreign trained doctor repeatedly told the family that the child had only the flu. When the family returned home, a qualified doctor diagnosed a ruptured appendix and infection, but due to the delayed diagnosis and treatment the young girl was rendered sterile.

Carnival defended the case by claiming that it was not responsible for the malpractice of "independent contractors." The cruise line and the cruise industry fought the case for a decade and finally won before the U.S. Supreme Court. The bottom line? The family went on a family cruise vacation and their daughter returned home sterile due to the gross negligence of the Carnival ship doctor. After ten years of litigation, the young girl received nothing.

So when I see a helicopters picking up a sick kid off of a cruise ship, I know that one parent's prayers have been answered. They will not have to suffer like the Carlyle family from Michigan.

Last night, the U.S. Coast Guard performed a medical evacuation of a 75-year-old passenger who became sick while cruising on the Holland America cruise ship, Oosterdam, about 180 miles southwest of San Diego.

A HC-130 Hercules aircraft from the Coast Guard station in Sacramento located the HAL ship ship. A MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter dispatched from the Coast Guard's San Diego station then medevaced the passenger to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla.

The medevac came just 2 days after the Coast Guard assisted the disabled cruise ship Carnival Splendor into San Diego.

In October, the Coast Guard conducted essentially an identical rescue. A 74-year-old passenger with pancreatis was rescued from HAL's Oosterdam 36 miles from San Diego and sent via helicopter to Scripps Memorial Hospital.

The U.S. Coast Guard spends millions of dollars a year assisting passengers who are sick or injured on foreign flagged cruise ships.

The Coast Guard is reporting that it medically evacuated a 17-year-old female passenger from a cruise ship 83 nautical miles southeast of Wilmington, N.C. Monday.

Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads received a phone call from a crewmember aboard the cruise ship Carnival Pride at approximately 8 p.m. stating that there was a female aboard who was experiencing symptoms of appendicitis.

An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City was launched at 9:30 p.m. to respond. The helicopter crew arrived on scene at 11:30 p.m., and hoisted the 17-year-old female, her mother and the cruise ship’s nurse. The helicopter crew then transferred them to New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington.

Cruise Law News is a big fan of the United States Coast Guard which came to the rescue of a 79-year-old passenger aboard the Carnival cruise ship Spirit yesterday.

According to 10News.com, the Carnival cruise ship was about 570 miles south of San Diego when the vessel notified the USCG that a passenger was experiencing health problems. At around 3:45 p.m. on Thursday, a 41-foot-long Coast Guard utility boat met the cruise ship at the entrance to San Diego Bay. The sick passenger and a member of the cruise ship's medical staff were taken by the Coast Guard to the San Diego Harbor Police dock. The patient was then taken by ambulance to Scripps Mercy Hospital. The nature of the passenger's medical problem and her current condition were not discussed.

Medivac defintion: "Air transport of persons to a place where they can receive medical or surgical care; medical evacuation."

"Medivac" is a word that you hope the cruise ship doctor has heard before if you become seriously ill or injured during a cruise. As I have mentioned in prior blogs, a cruise ship is the last place you want to be if you have a life threatening situation with your health. Elderly passengers are particularly vulnerable when they have to rely on the medical skill and experience of ship doctor trained outside of the U.S.

Over one-half of the passengers who seek medical treatment during cruises are over age 65. Many passengers have pre-existing medical conditions including heart conditions. Elderly passengers are at risk for complications on cruise ships with noro-virus and are then at the mercy of the ship doctors.

Luckily for passengers on cruise ships near U.S. ports, the U.S. Coast Guard can come to the rescue. U.S. citizens don't appreciate just how fortunate they are when a U.S. Coast helicopter arrives on the scene and saves the day. Sometimes we hear of the Canadian Coast Guard rescuing Americans, like here.

Here we have a Coast Guard helicopter from Air Station Astoria pulling an injured passenger from the deck of the Volendam cruise ship operated by Holland American Line.

The passenger apparently sustained head and back injuries in a fall as the cruise ship was headed from Seattle to Hawaii. Luckily for him, the ship was still a hundred miles from Oregon. Thanks to the Coast Guard, the cruise passenger was taken to Oregon Health and Science University in Portland for medical treatment.

Heart attacks on cruise ships are one of the leading causes of passenger deaths. The U.S. and the Canadian Coast Guards do a remarkable job rescuing passengers from cruise ships, far distances from the mainland.

The video below show the rescue by the Canadian Coast Guard of a 78 year old passenger who suffered a heart attack and was in critical conditions. The cruise ship, the Sea Princess, was 100 miles from Vancouver Island.

Last night around 7:15 p.m., the Carnival Glory cruise ship notified the Coast Guard in Miami that a 36 year-old pregnant woman needed emergency medical treatment. The Carnival Glory departed the Port of Miami at 4 p.m. Sunday and was en route to the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Coast Guard sent an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter to the ship and safely hoisted the woman at about 8:30 p.m. (video below), and transferred her to Broward General Hospital.

On Saturday, the Carnival Inspiration cruise ship notified the Coast Guard around 3:00 a.m. that a 63-year-old cruise ship passenger with internal bleeding needed evacuation. The ship was about 115 miles west of Marco Island. The Coast Guard helicopter arrived and took the passenger to Tampa General Hospital around 8:00 a.m.

Later Saturday night, the Norwegian Jewel reported that a a 42-year-old man with acute appendicitis needed to go to a hospital. The cruise ship was 20 miles east of Atlantic City Saturday. A Coast Guard helicopter transported the passenger to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City for treatment.

A cruise ship is not the place you want to be if you are critically ill. The U.S. Coast Guard does a fantastic job performing medical evacuations of cruise passengers and searching for passengers and crew when they go overboard.

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